I have always welcomed the advice of others, especially if the others have demonstrated serious performance skills.

In my quest to become a better player, I have always welcomed the advice of others, especially if the others have demonstrated serious performance skills.

The first one was given earlier in my bridge life. It made sense then, but nowhere like it does today. So that most important advice was given by Tim Seres, at the matchpoint pairs event in Surfers where my partner, after making a great deceptive play, lost his focus and played the wrong card.

Tim said: “Concentration is the most important thing to improve. It takes work, it takes practice. Learn to concentrate on the cards, to not let anything distract you, practice at every game you play, until it become second nature. It took me years of work, day after day.”

Those whose have witnessed Tim play can vouch for it ability to remain unruffled. His talent was immense but most noticeable was the fact that he never wavered. His deameanor remained the same regardless of outcome.

The second advice was not given directly to me. It was more a case of a player telling me about something he had done systematically in a bid to improve his performance. Nonetheless it made its mark and the impact on me has been huge.

For every hand you play, whether you are defending or declaring, assigna hypothetical shape to the opponents. If you are defending, assign a shape to declarer. If you are defending, start by assigning a shape to tle player on lead”. This is something that you have to keep doing until it becomes second nature

And of course, be sure to readjust your thinking as more information becomes available. 😆